Wednesday 14 February 2018

AFC MANSFIELD Vs LIVERSEDGE - PREVIEW


These two sides have faced each other just 3 times, with AFC winning once and the other two games ending in a draw.  In terms of goals scored AFC just shade that 8-7.

It is fair to say that it will be another tight game and you are likely to see goals.  In the last 14 games involving Liversedge 3 goals or more have been scored.  

For AFC Mansfield 4 out of the last 5 games have been clean sheets, although they have never kept a clean sheet against Liversedge.  The Bradford based side boast the 5th best attack in the league with 2.36 goals per game.  That is 2 places below AFC Mansfield who boast 2.74 goals per game.




Players to look for are Ollie Fearon, the league's top goal-scorer with 35 in all competitions.  Also look for Connor Smythe who can be deadly on free-kicks.

For Liversedge Joe Walton has 19 goals for the season and Brandon Kane and Andrew Wood will also cause AFC some problems.
Whatever happens it is going to be an entertaining game.

Thursday 1 February 2018

WINS, CLEAN SHEETS AND SOME TOP BULLS!!

Much is being made of AFC Mansfield's current run of wins and impressive clean sheet haul so far this season.  Just to recap, The Bulls go into this Saturday's game against Harrogate Railway looking for their 12th successive victory.  They will also be looking to add to the 12 clean sheets that they have in the league.

But as good as both figures look they are not records for AFC Mansfield, for this you would have to go back to their 1st ever season 2012-13.

In that 1st season they had an early run of 10 successive wins between 27 August and 20 October.  With a goal difference of 62-1.  They then went and surpassed this with a run of 13 league wins with a goal difference of 78-4.  Also, they kept 22 clean sheets in the league and 8 in the various cups.

In 2013-14 they had a similar early season run of 10 league wins and kept 17 clean sheets in the league with 2 cup clean sheets.  More importantly they gained promotion as champions and also added the League Cup to their successes.

Their first NCEL season saw a modest 6 game winning run and 11 league clean sheets with another 5 in the cups.

Another promotion year in 2015-16 brought no great run of wins but an 11 game unbeaten run at the start of the season and the same at the end secured promotion to the NCEL Premier Division.  17 clean sheets were obtained all in the league.

Last season saw the club finish in 7th spot with a 6 game winning run and 8 league clean sheets and a remarkable 6 clean sheets in cup competitions.

Jason White: 47 clean sheets in all competitions 
Dale Sheppard: 43 clean sheets in all competitions

Which brings us to Saturday, a twelfth win seems likely and another clean sheet could be on the cards.  If that happens The Bulls face a tough away trip to Penistone the week after to equal the consecutive win record.
From L to R: Dean Rick, Mark Carter and Carl Haslam.  The 3 Amigos

As for goal-scorers, Dean Rick holds the all time record of 161 goals in 140 appearances.  In 2nd spot comes Mark Carter with 79 goals in 89 appearances.  Current top scorer Ollie Fearon is next with 65 goals from 80 appearances.  In 4th is Carl Haslam who scored 54 times in 77 appearances.
Ollie Fearon the current top goal-scorer